Wednesday 8 December 2021

Black Friday parts order

My chassis components clean up over the past few months provided me with an opportunity to make an accurate parts list. By the time that the inevitable annual sales came to town, I was ready and organised. This is my latest shipment of parts:


As well as fresh slave cylinders, the eagle eyed will notice that I have upgraded to a duel master cylinder (for safety reasons): 


The part I am most excited for has to be the dropped spindles:


They will provide a 2.5" drop on the front of the car, whilst offering a smoother ride.

Not everything that I required was in stock, but it was a good haul nonetheless. Things are starting to move towards the chassis rebuild, which makes me happy!

Wednesday 1 December 2021

Repair to the petrol tank support rail

I was still in two minds about the tank support rails. My initial feeling was that they were fairly crispy and that heavy pitting (from both inside and out) had thinned them.

However, upon blasting, it turned out that my assumption only turned out to be partially true. It seems that these sections were made from a slightly lighter gauge steel, which would explain why they felt relatively light. Fortunately, the rot was not too extensive, so rather than replacing with new items I figured I would save them. Afterall, the more original steel that stays in the car, the happier I feel:

Marked up the worst sections:

Cut out the bad:

made up a patch from fresh steel:

Clamped, welded and dressed:




I am not sure how I want to proceed with the forward section that curves downwards. It is actually a bit more complicated than it appears in photos because the planes sit at various angles rather than conveniently flat. I may end up using a section out of the Mexi tank rail and graft it in rather than trying to form it from scratch. I need a little thinking time, so will come back to it.

 Right, time to have a look at the other side...